Life Without You
by Ezzie Valentine
Summary: Story Complete Squall is being plagued by memories of the actions he took when Hollow Bastion was attacked. Yuffie tries to help him with his problem, which eventually leads to an argument between the pair where harsh words are accidentally said.
1. Part 1

Life Without You  
By Ezri-Candy

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Summary:  Squall is being plagued by memories of the actions he took when Hollow Bastion was attacked.  Yuffie tries to help him with his problem, which eventually leads to an argument between the pair where harsh words are accidentally said.

Warning:  This story contains a suicide _attempt_ so if you are sensitive to these types of things, there are plenty of excellent stories in the KH section for you to read.

Disclaimer: As much as I wish I owned Kingdom Hearts (especially all those hot guys…Squall, Riku, Cloud, Sephiroth…{Sighs}) I don't.  That privilege belongs to Square-Enix and Disney but if they really wanted to give them to me, I wouldn't mind taking them off of their hands...hint, hint.

Note:  This story has been edited as of 6/14/04…mistakes have been corrected and if you find more, please let me know.  
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Part 1

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Yuffie hopped up onto the balcony after returning from her magic training with Merlin. and opened the sliding door to the room she shared with Squall, her fighting partner and long time companion.  Her breath caught in her throat as she saw him sitting on the edge of the bed.  He looked so handsome as he pushed strands of damp brown hair out of his endless blue eyes.

She slowly made her way over to him and sat on the bed next to him.  He made no acknowledgement of her even being there as he stared straight ahead, deep in thought.  Violet eyes continued to watch as drops of water fell from his hair onto his clean white t-shirt and a frown graced his perfect lips.

'Something must really be wrong if I can be this close to him and not have him notice.' She thought.  'I wonder what he's thinking about…I know he doesn't like me all that much, but maybe I can help him out.'

The ninja looked up at him with apprehension.  'I hope he doesn't get mad at me for botherin' him.  Oh well, here goes nothing…' 

"Squall?"

=-=-=-=

Squall had stepped from the small bathroom moments ago, his hair still slightly dripping as his mind continued to race even after the cold shower he had taken to clear it.  Many things had been running rampant in his mind for the past two weeks but in the past twenty-four hours, these thoughts had not allowed him a moments rest.  His body was weary as he tried to push back the memories of Hollow Bastion that plagued him on a regular basis, yet this was not the only issue that had occupied a large portion of his mind.

'Yuffie.'

As of late, he had found his mind wandering back to the young woman more and more.  She was his fighting partner, his friend and now that he finally deciphered his feelings for the young ninja, she was the woman he that he loved.

That last thought scared him the most; love.  Over the years, he had lost so many people in his life that he loved or cared for, he began to believe that he was cursed.  He believed that everyone he loved would be ripped from him because of the simple fact that he cared for them.  For him, there would be no happiness to be found.  Squall had decided that fate had determined that he wasn't worthy of anything…Maybe he was just destined to be alone.

Yuffie had turned into a beautiful young woman before his very eyes and he loved everything about her.  He loved her sunny personality, her endless energy, and her caring nature.  She was his polar opposite and he loved her but wouldn't dare voice that love fearing the tragedy would soon follow if he did.

She would never know.  She was safer this way, wasn't she?

"Squall?"

He snapped his head to the side, slightly startled at the sound of her soft voice. 'How in the hell did she manage to do that?'  He glared at the ninja and sighed.  "It's Leon.  What do you want Yuffie?"

She rolled her eyes.  "Well, it just looked like you had a lot on your mind and I was…uh…wonderin' if you wanted to talk about it."

He gave a sad smirk.  "You wouldn't understand."

Now it was her turn to glare at him.  "I am not a child.  I understand a lot more than people think."  Her eyes softened.  "_Leon_, talking 'bout it might help, and that's all I want to do."

He sat silent for a few moments.  "Fine."

'Yes!'  "So what's going on?" she asked gently.

"I was just thinking about the past."  He said simply.  'And about you.'

"What about it?"

He looked down to her.  "That's it."

She arched an elegant eyebrow.  "What's it?"

'I don't even know why I bothered…She doesn't understand.'  He shook his head.

"Come on Squall, you gotta be thinking about somethin' specific to make you zone out like you were."

He sighed at the use of his former name and knew she would not stop pestering him until he told her.  "… …I was thinking about when Hollow Bastion was attacked…and I _don't_ zone out."  'How does she get me to open up like this when no one else can?'

Yuffie closed her eyes.  'Not this again!  He is always beating himself up over this!'  From time to time, Squall had a tendency to go into periods of depression and self-loathing.  "Leon, there is nothing that you could have done that would have changed what happen back then."

He stood and started pacing the room.  "You don't know that.  If I wasn't so weak, maybe we could have fought off the heartless and so many people wouldn't have died.  You don't know anything."  He said coldly.

"Why do you torture yourself like this?  Squall, you need to stop living in the past!  We all lost people in our lives that we're close to us.  We," she said pointing to him and to herself. "have both lost our parents, Aerith lost her mother and Cloud, and Cid doesn't even know if the Gummi ship his wife was piloting made it out of there, but we don't constantly punish ourselves about what happened then.  We know that _nothing_ we do now can change back then and you need to realize it too!  Please don't do this to yourself anymore.  I can't stand to see you inflicting this pain on yourself." She pleaded.

"Squall, you have always been strong but you're too busy wallowing in your own personal hell to realize it.  If you just think of all of the people that you have saved both here in Traverse Town and in Bastion you wou-

He sat heavily on a chair across the room and rubbed his temples.  "Enough!" he turned that all too familiar glare on her.  'Why does she care about what I think and what I do to myself?  She couldn't possibly love me, I have been a complete ass to her for the last few weeks trying to push her away.'  He thought sadly.

She felt anger and desperation beginning to build in her.  "No Squall, you need to hear this!  If you, Cloud and the others hadn't fought as long as you did guarding the Gummi hanger, there would have been a lot more people that died that day!  No one was prepared for that attack! Gods, some of the people who had made it to the ships _still_ had no idea what was going on! 

"I know you thought that you should have been fighting with the others on the streets on Hollow Bastion but even if you _had_ been out there, the heartless would have still taken over our world and you would be dead!"  She yelled, walking out of the balcony doors to hide the pain that was clearly written across her face at that thought.  'I don't know what I would do if you weren't here with me.'

"At least then I would have died fighting and not sitting here with you, constantly listening to your babbling!"  He hollered back.  'Why am I saying this?'

'Am I really that bad?  Am I that much of a nuisance to him?  Can't he see that I care about him?!  That I love him?!'  Yuffie question herself before spinning around from the balcony of the green room, eyes that were once the color of ash covered lilacs were now black with fury and trained on the brown haired main glaring at her.  "You know Squall, since I bother you soooo much, maybe you'da just be better off if I'd never been born!"  She screamed at the man.

Squall stood piercing her with his steely blue eyes before speaking coldly.  "My name is Leon and you know what Yuffie, maybe that would have made my life a whole lot easier."  His eyes widened, not bothering to cover the shock he felt at his own words.  'I can't believe I just said that!  I'm so damn stupid!'

The ninja felt as if her chest was caving in.  Her eyes burned with tears that had yet to fall and her breathing became hitched.  'He truly hates me…'

Forcing away the tears and pain she was feeling and a blank mask fell over her face.  "Well Leon," she said in a monotone whisper.  "In all the years I have know you, I never realized my presence irritated you that much.  You won't have to concern yourself with me any longer.  I know when I'm not wanted."  She said as she walked mechanically towards the door of their shared room.

He moved forward quickly and grasped her arm lightly.  "Yuffie, I didn't mean what I said."  His once emotionless tone was filled with sorrow.

"Take your hands off of me." Her eyes remained forward, not even sparing him a glance as she shrugged his hand off.

The gunblade specialist reluctantly released his grasp as she quickly fled the room.  He walked over to the bed and sat heavily, placing his head in his hands.  "I am such a moron!"

'How could I have said that to her when she was only trying to help?  Every thing she said was true. I _can't_ change what happened but I was being too self-centered to realize it.  I've known her since she was a little girl, I watched her grow into the woman she is today.  Even though I have never admitted it, she is the only one who truly understands me and what do I do?  I tell her I wish she wasn't born!'  He berated himself. 

The damage was done; he had broken the ninja's spirit by allowing those vile words to spew from his mouth.  He felt a crushing pain in his chest as his mind continuously replayed the pained expression that graced her beautiful face.  "The one person that I care for the most, offers her help to me and what do I do?  I turn away from her help and curse her very existence!"

He sat back in the chair and tossed his head back allowing it to smack against the wall behind him, but he felt no pain.  His thoughts were on the young woman who stormed out of the room only moments before.

'Yuffie has stuck by my side through thick and thin.'  He gave a sad smile that quickly slid into a deep frown.  'She never deserved any of the unkind words that I've said to her.  She thinks that I hate her.'

He didn't hate her.  There was nothing that could ever make him hate her, and as he looked back on their friendship, he realized that the insults and snide remarks had done everything to make her think that he did.  'I can't let her continue to think that.  I don't want her out of my life.'  He stood from his seat with a look of grim determination.

He just couldn't picture not waking up everyday to her bouncing on the bed to get him up with that beautiful grin pasted on her face.  Or not hearing her playfully argue with Aerith about why she would never wear the pink clothing that older woman had given to her.  He wanted to hold her in his arms and tell he how he felt even though he didn't know how she felt about him.

'I'm not going to let her walk away without telling her that I love her.'  Fate be damned, he was going to tell her. He had to, despite the twinge of fear that came with telling her.  He left the green room in search for his love.

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See authors notes at the end of this story…I couldn't post it as a one shot like I planned because ff.net is acting up again.


	2. Part 2

Part 2

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Yuffie ran through the second district with tears blurring her vision, not slowing down until she reached her destination.  She quickly climbed the ladder that led to the roof of the gizmo shop and sat unblinking on the edge of the building, hidden by the shadow of the bell tower.

'Why is he like this to me?  Why do I even love that jerk?'  She felt the first tear roll down her cheek as she continued to think about the russet haired man with eyes as blue as the deepest oceans.  Despite all of the nasty comments and the hateful glares, she couldn't stop herself from loving him.  "I know he would never love me, he wouldn't allow himself to."  She said sadly.

Yuffie sighed as she wiped the tears away from her cheek.  She just didn't understand what she had done to make him hate her with such a passion as to wish that she were never born.  'I wonder if he really didn't mean to say that like he said.' She thought with confusion.  She heard the sorrow in his voice but couldn't bear to be in the same room with him at the moment.

For six years, Aerith, Cid and Squall had raised and trained her to become what she was today after their parents were killed by the heartless.  She remembered what Squall was like before the heartless came and wished he could be like he was back then.

The ninja smiled at the memories of him catching her cheating at cards and then tickling her as punishment.  When she learned some new martial arts form from her dad at the dojo, she could always be found showing him, Aerith and Cloud what she was taught.  The now stoic Squall Leonhart was even know to tell jokes back then, but all that had changed.

Maybe it was because of her that he had changed.  Ever since they had come to Traverse Town, she had felt like a burden to her friends.  Cid and Aerith were both working to pay for their food and supplies.  Luckily, the owner of the hotel was giving them a generous discount for their protection of the town, but the hotel fees still had to be paid.  She and Squall defended the town against the heartless and was able to collect some munny from that, but she felt more like a liability to him than a benefit.

Yuffie removed her orange fingerless gloves and buried her head in her hands.  "They all would be better off if I wasn't around.  No one needs or wants me here anyway.  Gods, even Aerith is becoming short tempered with me lately even when I haven't done anything."  She whispered to herself as she moved one of her hands from her head and reached into the small pouch that was tied to her waist and removed one of her throwing stars.

She spun the razor sharp star on her finger and watched as it teetered on her finger then toppled, landing with one of its points embedded in her leg.  She pulled the star out of her leg and looked the small area of crimson blood that stained it slightly.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Her ability for rational though abruptly shut down as she brought the sharp edge to her right wrist.  'They wouldn't have to worry…they would be happy…' she didn't flinch as the metal bit into her thin skin.

"Squall, I just wanted to help you.   I just wanted you to like me and be my friend like when we use to be, because I love you.  Well, don't worry, I won't be bothering you or anyone else."  She closed her eyes as the tears poured down her cheeks as she brought the razor sharp edge to the soft skin of her left wrist.

=-=-=-=Meanwhile=-=-=-=

Squall raced from the Dalmatian's house still desperately searching for his ninja.  'Where in the hell could she be?'  He had seen no evidence that she had been attacked by the heartless while he did a quick search of the streets and alleyways of the three districts.

He walked towards the gizmo shop and peered down the brightly lit alley that ran along side the large building.  Letting out a frustrated sigh, he looked towards the stars that shone high above the sleepy town while he stopped below the building's roof.  'There are not that many places she could have gone…please, just let me find her.' He closed his eyes with his head still skyward as he made his silent plea to any god that would listen.

Splat

His eyes snapped open.  'What the hell?' He though, bringing a gloveless hand up to his forehead to wipe away the drop.  'It's not raining.' He thought in confusion and examined his finger.  His heart stopped in his chest as he saw the crimson smear on his finger.  "Oh Gods!"  He quickly made his way through the gizmo shop and headed up the ladder as his holstered gunblade bounced against the wooden ladder.  "Please don't let it be her!"

He pulled his muscular form onto the rooftop as his eyes scanned the rooftop, and then he heard the faint sound of her voice. 

"Squall, I just wanted to help you.   I just wanted you to like me and be my friend like when we use to be, because I love you.  Well, don't worry, I won't be bothering you or anyone else."

His voice caught in his throat as he ran at the sound of her voice.  She was laying on her side a small pool of blood forming below her and dripping off the side of the building.  Finally finding his voice he screamed to her.  "Yuffie, NO!"  Squall made it to her just as she was about to bring the bloodied blade across her small wrist but dropped it when she passed out from blood loss and shock.

He fell to his knees beside the young woman and gently turned her on her back shaking her.  "Yuffie!  Wake up!  Please!" 

=-=-=-=

Somewhere within the recesses of her own mind, she heard his voice calling out to her.  'Squall…' she tried to speak but could not find the energy to wake up.

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He quickly untied the yellow scarf from around her neck and ripped it in two, folding one of the pieces into a square and placing it over her self inflicted wound.  Squall used the other piece to wrap it around her wrist tight enough to cause pressure on the laceration.

The gunblade specialist picked up her unconscious form and cradled her against his chest as he ran back towards the ladder.  "It'll be okay, you'll be alright.  Aerith will help us."  He said as he mad his way down the ladder with his precious burden.  Silently he cursed himself for not going to Merlin sooner for those magic lessons.  If he had, at least he would have been able to use a cure spell on her. 

He leapt from the ladder, foregoing the last five rungs and ran out of the gizmo shop.  His once white shirt was now stained crimson with her lifeblood and the temporary bandage was now soaked through and beginning to drip.

"Move out of the way!"  He yelled as he made his way through a group of teens that were gossiping on the sidewalk.  The teens dove out of the way and watched as the bloodied man darted into the hotel. 

He kicked open the door to the green room and placed Yuffie gently on the bed.  "Aerith!!  Aerith I need help!"  He ran into the bathroom and grab the towels housekeeping had left on the countertop. 

The door that joined their rooms opened to reveal an emerald eyed woman clad in a pink nightgown.  "Leon, what on earth- oh my gods, Yuffie!"  She ran back into her room to grab her fully stocked medical kit and quickly re-entered the green room.

Leon was kneeling on the bed beside the unconscious ninja applying pressure to her wrist.  Aerith popped open her med kit and began pulling out various bandages and salves.

"Leon, I need you to mix those two creams together and open those packets of gauze."  He nodded and released his hold on Yuffie and did as he was told.

Aerith removed the bloodied scarf from her friend's wrist and quickly assessed the deep cut.  She grabbed one of the recently opened gauze pads and placed it over Yuffie's wound and closed here eyes to concentrate.  Her lips moved at a furious pace as she summoned her normally dormant healing abilities.  A green glow enveloped her hand and flowed onto the ninja's wound and stopped the bleeding.  The former flower girl lifted the gauze and watched with exhaustion as the laceration partially closed.

Leon watched with a helpless, pained expression as she treated the one he loved.  She was so pale and fragile looking lying on the now bloody blankets on their bed.  His thoughts of her were broken when Aerith voice finally broke through the fog in his mind.

"Leon?"  He looked at her questionably.  "I need you're help.  Put a thick layer of that cream over the cut, then well need to bandage her up and splint that wrist.  If she moves it too much, she'll reopen that wound."  He nodded and went to work.

They quickly applied the splint and began cleaning the young woman.  The amount of blood that had come from that one wound so quickly chilled Squall to the bone.  He placed two shaking fingers to her neck to feel her pulse beating slow and weak under his two fingers. He dipped the towel he had been using, into a basin of hot water to clean the last of the blood from her face. 

"Leon, why don't you go shower while I finish up in here?  We'll talk about it when you come out."  Aerith said gently with a reassuring smile.

"…Okay."  He grabbed a few things from his drawer and slowly walked into the bathroom but not before sparing one glance at his Yuffie.

=-=-=-=

Squall filled the sink with cold water and stared into the mirror before pulling off the bloody shirt.  He knew the stains would never come out but he could not bring himself to throw it away. Instead, he tossed into the sink and stepped under the hot jets of the shower.

He quickly scrubbed her blood off of his abdomen and chest as his mind began to wander.  'She tried to kill herself…she tried to kill herself and its my fault.  She could die…'  He thought and realized that for the first time in over six years, tears escaped his eyes.

'Maybe if I hadn't sat around after she left, maybe I could have stopped her in time and apologized.'  Suddenly his thoughts were interrupted by a single voice that screamed in his mind.

_'Squall, you need to stop living in the past!  **Nothing**_ _we do now can change back then and you need to realize it too!'_

Her words from their argument rang out in his mind.  As much as he wished that he could, there was no way he could go back and make himself chase after her.  She was right, but he would feel guilty for what he had said and what she had done for the rest of his life.  He had driven the one he loved to seek out death's cold embrace simply because he denied his feelings and tried to push her away.  'How could she ever love someone as horrible as me?'

Squall rinsed the sandalwood soap off of his face and froze.  'She said she loves me.'  Despite the horrendous things he had said to her, the ninja still said she loved him.  He thought about all the times that Yuffie offered her help and all of the small things she had done for him as he realized that she had been afraid to tell him her true feelings so instead she showed him.

The blue-eyed man shut off the water and dressed with renewed speed before heading out of the bathroom to return to her side.


	3. Part 3

Part 3

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Aerith pulled the clean blankets up over Yuffie's prone form and looked up as the door to the bathroom opened.  Leon walked out stiffly with red eyes and he pulled a chair over to a spot near the bed.  She watched in amazement as he gently picked her uninjured hand up from beneath the blankets and placed a kiss on her palm.

She sat on the bed next to the pale young woman lying on the bed and brushed her short chocolate locks away from her eyes.

Leon's somber voice drew her eyes from the sleeping pixie.  "How is she doing?"

"She's still very weak.  I called Cid and had him fetch the doctor while you were in the shower.  She went back to the clinic to get her some supplies.  Yuffie's going to need blood and we didn't want to move her so were going to set something up here.  Dr. Yardley thinks she's going to make it."

Cerulean eyes closed as he let out a sigh of relief.  'She's going to be okay…'

"Leon, I know you probably don't want to talk about it, but could you tell me what happened?"

A tear made its way down his cheek.  "We got into an argument.  She was only trying to help and I said some things that I really didn't mean to say."  He told her what had happened and what he heard her say on top of the gizmo shop.  His eyes opened and he stared into her green eyes with palpable sadness.  "Aerith, I hurt Yuffie so deeply she thought that the only way to make all of us happy…make me happy was if she wasn't around to burden us anymore."

Aerith was openly crying after he told her what had happened.  She too had been unusually curt with the young girl but that was due to her own memories of Hollow Bastion that she had been fighting lately.  Her memories of her mother and of her love were tormenting her dreams, making many of her nights sleepless.

"Leon, I too have said things that have made Yuffie think that she isn't wanted.  I deeply regret my attitude towards her…I am also to blame."  She let out a shuddering breath.

Knock, Knock

Aerith looked to the door.  "Come in Dr. Yardley."

A woman in her thirties with blond hair came into the room, pushing a small cart followed by a young man with red hair.  "Are you ready Aerith?"  She received a nod in response. The doctor turned to the red headed man.  "John go ahead and set that up over here while Aerith and I get the heart monitor and IV line in. 

Squall watched as their efficient movements around the room.  John was hooking Yuffie up to the heart monitor while Aerith and the doctor searched Yuffie's arms and legs for a viable vein.  With the blood loss, it made that task very difficult.  Finally after three pokes and three new bruises that marred Yuffie's beautifully tanned skin, they were able to start the transfusion process.

"Well now all we can do is wait."  Yardley said as she flashed a penlight in Yuffie's eyes.  "Aerith, we've left two units of blood for her and you'll have to come in and give her another unit every three hours then start her on the drip.  I will return in to check on her progress tomorrow around noon.

"With these types of self inflicted injuries, someone will have to stay with her just in case she regains consciousness and makes another attempt."

Squall looked up from the spot he had been staring at on the floor.  "I will stay with her."

Aerith nodded.  "Thank you doctor for coming by.  I will see you at the clinic tomorrow."

The doctor gave her a warm smile.   "No problem.  Aerith, if you need to take tomorrow off, just come by and let me know okay?"

"I will.  Goodnight Dr. Yardley.  Bye John."

Aerith looked over at Leon and gave a sad smile.  "Maybe you should talk to her." She nodded at Yuffie. "It's believed that even if a person is unconscious or in a coma, they can still hear you and it encourages healing.  I'll call the front desk and have them bring you a cot and something to eat.  If you need anything else, let me know 'kay?"

"Thank you.  Goodnight Aerith."

The former flower girl went to close the door between their joined rooms and paused.  "Leon, please don't beat yourself up over this.  She needs you right now."  She closed the door, giving him time to think.

Squall moved from his chair that had been placed near the door while the medical equipment was being set up and sat on the edge of their bed.  He studied her face while stroking her hand.  'She has always been beautiful.'  He thought as he looked at her pale face. 

There was a knock at the door as a muffled voice came through the door.  "Room service."

"Come in."

The young bellhop entered the room and his eyes widened when he saw all the medical equipment.  "Uh…where do you want the cot set up sir?"

Squall pointed to an area near the sleeping ninja.  "There will be fine.  You can leave the food on the dresser."

The bellhop quickly set up the cot and sat the blankets and pillows on top.  Squall handed the kid a few munny gems before checking on what Aerith ordered for him.

"Thank you.  I hope she feels better soon sir."  He said quietly as he left the room.

The brown haired man devoured his meal and changed into a pair of shorts, not bothering to put on a shirt.  He leaned over Yuffie and kissed her gently on the forehead before climbing under the warm blankets on the uncomfortable cot, falling into an uneasy slumber.

=-=-=-=

Aerith hung the fresh IV bag full of clear liquid on the pole when she heard Leon cry out.

"No!  Yuffie stop!" He thrashed on the small cot, his long limbs hanging off the side.

The pink clad woman quickly made her way over to him and firmly placed her hands on his shoulders.  "Leon! Wake up, you're dreaming."

His eyes snapped open and he jumped from the cot looking around the room franticly before spotting Yuffie.  He quickly walked the short distance between their beds, a cold sweat was pouring down his chest and back as he sat on the bed.  Thought he heard the rhythmic beeping of the heart monitor, he placed two fingers on her uninjured wrist, feeling her pulse beating strong beneath his fingers and let out a shaky sigh of relief.

"She's doing much better Leon.  Her color is better and her blood pressure has risen back to normal.  Yuffs should be waking up soon."  He nodded but couldn't respond.  "I'm going to get dressed and order something for breakfast.  I'll be back soon."  She gave him an encouraging pat on the shoulder as she went back to her room.

He sat in silence for a few moments before speaking to his love.  "Yuffie…Oh gods…" He paused for a moment, regaining his composure.  "I hope that somehow, you can hear me.  There are so many things I need to say to you and well, you know how good I am with words."  He said sarcastically.

"You were right.  You have always been right.  I was either just too stupid to realize it or I was just hiding from the truth.  There's nothing that I can do to change the past and I am slowly learning to accept that. 

"You were the one person who continuously tried to break down the walls that I had built around me in an attempt to get me to accept the help that you were trying to give me.  I know now that every time you tried to get me to talk, damn, basically everything you did was because you cared about me.

"Yuffie, I am so sorry that I drove you to this.  I did not mean what I said at all and I _never_ have hated you and I never could.  I've watched change from a sweet young girl, full of energy and life to a very beautiful, loving young woman.  I know that you probably can never forgive me for what happened, but I would rather have you hating me for the rest of my life then to not have you in it at all.

"Yuffie, I know you probably can't hear me but I love you.  I have loved you for a long time but I was just too much of a coward to admit it.  Everyone that I have ever shown love for or cared for has died and I was afraid…I was afraid that if I told you, something would happen to you."

He gave a short, bitter laugh.  "Fat lot of good that did.  It was because I _didn't_ tell you that this _did_ happened.  Yuffie, I do love you and hope that I get a chance to tell you soon."

"You just did, but you can tell me again."  A weak voice said.

Squall looked down into eyes of gray mixed with a hint of purple.  She had a tired smile on his face.  "Oh gods Yuffie, I am so sorry about everything!" Tears fell from his eyes as he moved closer to cradle his gorgeous pixie. "Yuffie I love you, please promise me that you will never _ever_ harm yourself again."

Yuffie brought her left hand up to his cheek and brushed away the tears.  "I promise.  I am sorry that I did something so stupid.  I heard everything you said to me, ya know, I don't hate you either and I know you won't believe me, but I do forgive you for what you said.  I remember how you sounded when I walked out on you and maybe if I wasn't so damn stubborn, none of this would have happened."  Tears were starting to flow down her cheeks.

Squall smiled at her statement.  "Hey, none of that.  You said it yourself Yuffs, you can't change the past.  I know we have problems but we can work through them together but in order to do that, we have leave what happened where it is…in the past."

"Squall, I love you."

"I love you too and I hope that I never have to live my life without you."  He said as he captured her lips with his, pouring all the love he felt for her into that one, breathtaking kiss.

The End

=-=-=-=-=-=

AN:

I am so so so so so sorry!!!  This story was harder to write than I thought it would be.  This is my first Squall/Yuffie and hopefully if I decide to rewrite this or if I write another story with this pairing, it will be better.

Anyway, please read and review.  Any flames received will be shoved up Ansem's ass by Oogie Boogie while still burning.  I'm gonna go sit in my corner now and think about my multi chapter story.


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